Hello! We are celebrating National Poetry Writing Month, i.e. NaPo by digging back to the roots and history of poetry.
The oldest written poem dates back to 2200 BCE, essentially before our alphabet was invented o-o! Though most Historians agree that “poetry” dates even further back, as it was primarily practiced through word of mouth.
Today, we’re going to try our hand at memorizing poems! Let’s each select a poem from a book we’re reading, or select an old favorite and try to see if we can memorize it and partake in this very old human tradition ^_^
Why Memorize a Poem?
“...you take the poem inside you, into your brain chemistry if not your blood, and you know it at a deeper, bodily level than if you simply read it off a screen. Robson puts the point succinctly: “If we do not learn by heart, the heart does not feel the rhythms of poetry as echoes or variations of its own insistent beat.” -- - BRAD LEITHAUSER
Once you feel you’ve practiced enough, you can use vocaroo to try recording your progress and posting your accomplishments!
